Differences in the views of obstetricians-gynecologists and intensivists based on the survey “Provision of medical care to patients with stillbirth”. Original article

Abstract

Introduction. The Russian Federation’s stillbirth rate is almost twice that of the United States and Europe, while domestic treatment protocols are still lacking. Objectives. To analyze the results of a survey of obstetricians-gynecologists and intensivists on the problems of providing medical care to patients with stillbirth. Materials and methods. We have developed a questionnaire, which consisted of 23 questions in Russian. A total of 369 Russian-speaking doctors, intensivists and obstetricians-gynecologists took part in the survey. Results. The need to turn off the mother’s consciousness at the time of giving birth to a dead fetus caused great disagreement between the related specialists (p = 0.0001). 56 % of intensivists and 35 % of obstetricians-gynecologists were in favor of turning off the mother’s consciousness. According to 23 % of obstetricians-gynecologists and only 9 % of intensivists, visual and tactile contact of a mother and her dead fetus has a positive impact on the psychoemotional state of the woman (p = 0.002). Respondents from both specialties preferred epidural analgesia in more than half of the cases. Conclusions. A list of issues for which the greatest differences in ratings were obtained has been identified, which will further help to identify priority issues for discussion and points of application for creating agreed documents on the best management of pregnant women with stillbirth.